Mike Trout won't replace Wells yet

It'll be Reggie Willits replacing injured Vernon Wells on the roster, not Mike Trout, as the Twitter had hoped.

The case for calling up Mike Trout:

He's better than Reggie Willits. Shoot, I'm not entirely sure he's not already better than Wells. The well-regarded ZiPS projection system forecast a .720 OPS for Trout before the season, which is slightly better than the American League average this season (.709). Scouts in Rancho told me last summer he's a good defensive center fielder already, so I think we could assume he'd be a plus -- if not plus-plus -- defensive left fielder. That's not an MVP candidate, by any means, but it's a guy who could start in the Majors. It's better than Juan Pierre, for instance.

Don't believe the projections? OK. Trout homered yesterday for Double-A Arkansas, giving him a 1.001 OPS in the offense-suppressed Texas League. That's 10th best in the league. Minor League Equivalencies are a very, very inexact science, but that translates to a .745 OPS in the majors. A left fielder who puts up a .745 OPS in the majors and plays plus-plus defense in left field is pretty useful. It's a lot better than what the Angels will get from Reggie Willits, probably.

Also: It'd be fun.

The case against calling up Mike Trout:

The Angels get six years of Trout before he's a free agent. Sure, they could use one of those years now, when he's 19, and get his .745 (or whatever) OPS and plus defense. Or they can wait a year and a half and get his ages 21 to 27 seasons. Would you rather have Trout when he's 19 or Trout when he's 27? Which one do you think is winning the MVP award?

Then there's the development question. Trout is the single most valuable property the Angels have, and his long-term future is just so unbelievably more important than getting a few fill-in starts over the next couple weeks. If there is any reason to think rushing him hurts his development into a superstar, then it makes enough sense to keep him in Double-A, where he can work on whatever he still needs work on. Throwing the ball to third or whatever.

I was sort of hoping it would be Trout, just because I might die next week so might as well seize the day. But my possible premature death aside, the Angels are probably making the prudent decision.

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